Thursday, August 13, 2015

The Growing Perks Of Premium Economy

Better food and better room in the space between business class and coach; champagne is available, but not the fancy stuff

Premium economy has matured and is a solid fixture for travelers around the world except the U.S. airlines, which simply have extra legroom rows. WSJ Middle Seat Columnist Scott McCartney joins Lunch Break. Photo: Michal Czerwonka for The Wall Street Journal

It’s time to think of premium economy as a regular class of airline service alongside coach, first and business.

Premium economy seats come with better meals and more seat width, legroom, recline and perks at a far cheaper fare than business class. The idea has taken hold everywhere but the U.S., where American, Delta and United have been focused on updating coach with slim seats and boosting business class to international standards.

Internationally, two of the last big holdouts, Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa, are now adding it for long-haul flights, citing customer demand.

ENLARGE

Along with better leg room in Lufthansa’s premium economy, the airline has installed a six-inch center console to give seats a greater feeling of width.PHOTO: LUFTHANSA

Singapore will launch premium economy on Dec. 1 with flights to Los Angeles; New York and San Francisco will follow. In addition to more space, Singapore has created new food service for premium economy—gourmet dishes such as braised short ribs, lamb biryani or dim sum from a Los Angeles restaurant—and engineered them to fit into economy trays rather than served on plates like first-class and business-class meals.

Lufthansa will complete installation of premium economy in all its long-haul airplanes in October. Since Lufthansa’s premium economy launch earlier this year, bookings have run 10% higher than the airline expected, according to Annette Mann, Lufthansa’s director of customer experience. About half of premium economy passengers are people paying their own way and half are corporate travelers.

“It’s designed for people who say economy is not comfortable enough but they, or their company, are not willing to pay for business class,” Ms. Mann says.

Typical premium economy has flight attendants and bathrooms reserved for that cabin. Seats usually have bigger entertainment screens than economy, plus 6 inches more legroom, 4 to 5 inches more recline and often an extra inch or two of seat width. Perks such as early boarding and more generous baggage allowances come with the higher fares. In a sign of how cramped regular coach seats have become, fliers have shown themselves willing to pay $600 to $900 round trip for these add-ons.

Lufthansa and Singapore had been reluctant to install premium economy for many years. They worried coach passengers wouldn’t pay up and business-class customers would trade down. But Singapore and Lufthansa say they heard more from frequent fliers, travel agents and corporations that don’t pay for business class who wanted something better than coach and were willing to pay 50% more.

Now 15 of the 20 largest airlines that offer long international flights have installed premium economy cabins. Many smaller airlines offer premium economy as well. And several airlines have said that premium economy is their most-profitable cabin per square inch of airplane floor space.

ENLARGE

Lufthansa’s premium economy seats will have some elements of business class, though meals will be more similar to those in economy seats.PHOTO: LUFTHANSA

“It seems now that it’s an accepted product category instead of just an ancillary add-on,” says Chris Rossi, senior vice president at Virgin Atlantic Airways, which was one of the first airlines to launch premium economy back in 1992. Recently Virgin added a new water fountain, snack and lounge area to the premium economy cabins on its Boeing 787 Dreamliners called the Wander Wall.

American, Delta and United, the biggest U.S. carriers, count among the last major airlines resisting this trend. They offer extra legroom seats in their coach cabins for a smaller add-on fee, but not a separate class of service with its own fares, seats and enhancements. (The other two top 20 airlines offering nothing between coach and business class are Persian Gulf carriers.)

U.S. airlines say they are content to offer extra legroom, which travelers increasingly pay for, and don’t have immediate plans for full premium economy offerings. United says it is constantly evaluating whether to add elements beyond extra legroom. American says sales of it extra legroom seats, which cost $112 to $177 each way on long international flights, are “doing well.” Delta recently said revenue from extra-legroom seats was up 30% in the second quarter compared with a year earlier.

“We’re aware of the competitive international landscape and we’re exploring options, but no decisions have been made,” Delta spokesman Anthony Black says.

ENLARGE

Virgin Atlantic has what it calls a Wander Wall, a snack/lounge area in its premium economy cabin on Boeing 787 Dreamliners.PHOTO: VIRGIN ATLANTIC

But other airlines have found fliers want more than just extra legroom. In Singapore’s case, the new premium economy cabin will have some elements of business class, such as free-flowing champagne. (It’s Ernest Rapeneau, about $25 a bottle, instead of the $50 Taittinger offered in business class.)

Instead of just puffing up economy meals with extra cheese and crackers, Singapore decided to create a new class of meal. At the airline’s Los Angeles in-flight caterer, Hacor Inc., much work went into refining recipes for taste and appearance and engineering them to fit in 5-inch-by-2.5-inch casserole dishes on economy trays.

Here, executive chef Christophe Cosnierworked through many tastings with airline officials to tailor recipes for the rigors of air travel, where food gets cooked, shipped and reheated before being served in a desert-dry environment. Even more important to Singapore was appearance—dishes must have visual flair.

“They will taste better if they look good,” says Mr. Cosnier, a Frenchman.

Mr. Cosnier borrowed some favorites from business class, such as braised short ribs, which are seasoned overnight, seared and braised for more than four hours. Lamb biryani, a new entree for Singapore, added more comfort food to the premium economy menu. The tasty rice dish is seasoned with cardamom, cinnamon, cashews and shallots.

Spicy foods work well because the arid cabin deadens taste buds, Mr. Cosnier says. He uses tricks such as covering dim sum and rice with a wet cabbage leaf to keep them moist during reheating. (Flight attendants remove the leaf before serving.)

ENLARGE

Brian Huang of Hacor examines new premium economy meals to be served on Singapore Airlines.PHOTO:MICHAL CZERWONKA FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Singapore says it is taking 66 economy seats out of its A380s to install 36 premium economy seats. Premium economy will cost 40% to 70% more than coach, says Alastair Hay-Campbell, vice president of Singapore’s southwest division.

So the premium economy cabin has to stand out with a lot more than just extra legroom. The airline decided to offer its popular Book the Cook service, where passengers preorder meals from a broad menu for each cabin, to premium economy as well as business and first.

“We want to encourage people to trade up,” he says.

British Airways recently began letting its premium economy passengers, as well as business and first, preorder meals on certain flights. British Airways also has been refreshing premium economy cabins on some of its older planes with new entertainment systems and better seat cushions.

Lufthansa says its research showed customers were willing to trade up at a fixed price of $600 to $700 more than coach, rather than a percentage of the fare. Its focus groups also found that seat width was just as important as legroom, so the airline’s premium economy seats have a six-inch center console between them. “Customers said it has to be wide enough so I don’t touch the person next to me,” Ms. Mann says.

Lufthansa’s premium economy has some elements of business class: a welcome drink at boarding, an amenity kit and bottled water at the seat. For meals, though, premium economy passengers get the same two choices as in coach. But they get a bit more food, like an extra chocolate, plus a better salad and nicer bread. And they get a bigger baggage allowance.

One driver of recent sales: global Wi-Fi and in-seat power. That means more travelers want space to open laptops and work, which can be difficult, if not impossible, in a coach row of 31 or 32 inches.

“It’s a comfortable work area now,” says Mr. Rossi, Virgin Atlantic’s head in North America.

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